VOORHEES — Well before his teammates took the ice for an optional morning skate, Nolan Patrick skated with assistant coach Ian Laperriere for the second time in three days.

A “day-to-day” injury has turned into weeks and concern has grown with the silence of the Flyers about his recovery after his head bounced off the boards on Oct. 24.

Patrick practiced the day after the hit and appeared close to returning two days after that, when the Flyers were in Toronto, but general manager Ron Hextall stopped short of saying the progress isn’t linear.

“I don’t know about setbacks,” Hextall said. “It’s taken longer than we thought, certainly hoped, but he skated (Thursday) and everything went good. He felt good, he worked out. Now it’s a matter of starting to ramp him up. You can’t just go from zero to 60, it’s gotta be zero to 20 and then up so he’ll go a little harder (Friday) and hopefully continues to progress.”

“It’s my first time I’ve ever had anything like this kind of injury before so it’s a lot of protocol things you have to go through,” Patrick said back on Oct. 27, the day before the Toronto game. “I think the league is pretty big on that kind of stuff now.”

The hope is that Patrick can start practicing with the team again shortly and go on the road trip that begins Monday. The Flyers will go to St. Paul, Minnesota, and then Winnipeg, Manitoba, which is Patrick’s hometown.

He has missed seven games due to the concussion he suffered from the hit. It would be quite a homecoming if he could suit up against the Jets with a ton of family and friends in attendance.

One thing that doesn’t appear to be on the table is sending the No. 2 overall pick back to the Brandon Wheat Kings of the Western Hockey League. Patrick has played in nine games so far and his next one will spark the point of no return on his entry-level contract starting.

Hextall also doesn’t buy into the idea that Patrick is injury prone, saying “his injury history isn’t that extensive.”

But Patrick had surgery in back-to-back summers for a sports hernia, was shut down last year for a leg injury and broke his collarbone twice before any of that had happened.

“That was when he was, what, 12 years old?,” Hextall contested. “Come on, you can’t count those. That’s a kid still growing. It’s frustrating for any player that’s out.”

Filling the void

Without Patrick, Jori Lehtera has been the team’s third-line center with Jordan Weal and Dale Weise on the wings.

Patrick certainly has more speed than Lehtera, who turns 30 next month, but Lehtera thinks the game well, which makes him a good fit for a speedy winger like Weal.

“Oh, for sure,” Weal said. “If you’re gonna be a centerman in this league you’re gonna have to have a bit of a head on you. He’s been in this league for a long time and he knows how to play with a lot of different players. It’s clear when he’s been thrown on the wing and at center and on different lines. It’s easy to adapt to a guy like that.”

Lehtera entered Thursday’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks still searching for his first goal and had only one assist in his first nine games.

“He came in to the lineup in Game 7,” coach Dave Hakstol said. “He came in on the left side and did a good job for us. When we needed him up the middle over the last few games. I think he’s gone in and done a really good job in a two-way sense as a centerman for us. He’s comfortable. He’s a veteran player and veteran centerman in this league.”

Loose Pucks

Hextall said that defenseman Andrew MacDonald, who is out with a knee injury, may be able to start skating next week. The Flyers are still hopeful that he will be out on the early side of the four-to-six week timeline they gave after he blocked a shot against Edmonton on Oct. 21.

Big defenseman Samuel Morin, who was hoping to be the call-up for MacDonald, is also hurt. He wasn’t forthcoming about an injury until the Flyers brought him from the minors to Philadelphia, but then opted not to call him up because he was hurt. He needs another week before returning, Hextall said.